ASUS Rampage 4 Extreme Review

ASUS Rampage IV Extreme Review

Packaging and Accessories

Although the contents are all new, the box is the familiar Republic of Gamers design we’ve all come to know and love. The user-guide is a weighty tome, as befits something dripping with high-end features.

ASUS Rampage IV Extreme Review     ASUS Rampage IV Extreme Review  

The collection of accessories is unrivalled. Because the Rampage IV Extreme supports Qual-SLI/Quad-Fire we have an array of bridges to connect your GPUs together. We often remark that the devil is in the details, and so often Crossfire bridges are a coppery colour that to see a black one, which would obviously fit the colour scheme better, is a nice touch.

ASUS Rampage IV Extreme Review     ASUS Rampage IV Extreme Review  

This bundle of wires on the left are for fine over-volting control on the GPU. Rather than have to trim resistors you can attach one end to the motherboard and the other to your GPU, then control the voltage via the BIOS. In keeping with a theme that you’ll be seeing throughout this review this might not be a feature that you thought you wanted, or even one you’ll use, but it’s a very cool feature nonetheless and only the tip of the iceberg.

ASUS Rampage IV Extreme Review     ASUS Rampage IV Extreme Review

Do you remember the old days when the IO Shield was there to fill up the many gaps you had at the back of the motherboard? There are so many inputs and outputs on the back of the R4E that there is almost no metal left in the shield. We’re pretty certain that if they didn’t need somewhere for the logo they’d have found something else to put on the board.

The cable on the right is part of connecting the OC Key, which we’ll be getting to shortly.

ASUS Rampage IV Extreme Review     ASUS Rampage IV Extreme Review

Yet another one of those cool features the Rampage is bristling with, is this CPU backplate. Bear with me. Rather than have the mounting on the motherboard, necessitating quite a faff if you want to change it, the R4E is capable of supporting both LGA2011 CPU coolers, and current LGA1366 ones too. So if you’ve got anything from a high-end air cooler, via a CPU water block, all the way up to a pot for sub-zero cooling, it will be able to be used on the Rampage IV Extreme.

Oh and there are a load of SATA cables too.

ASUS Rampage IV Extreme Review     ASUS Rampage IV Extreme Review